Gadiformes: Macrouridae
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Anales Instituto Patagonia (Chile), 2018. Vol. 46(1):29-36 29 On the bathymetric and latitudinal distributions of Coelorinchus cf. cookianus (Gadiformes: Macrouridae): first record documented with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in interior waters of the Campana Archipelago in central Patagonia, Chile (48°S) Sobre las distribuciones batimétricas y latitudinales de Coelorinchus cf. cookianus (Gadiformes: Macrouridae): primer registro documentado con un vehículo operado remotamente (ROV) en aguas interiores del Archipiélago Campana en la Patagonia central, Chile (48° S) Matthias Gorny1 & German Zapata-Hernández2, 3 Abstract del Canal Octubre, en el Archipiélago Campana, This is the first report of Coelorinchus cf. cookianus Patagonia central, Chile. Los especímenes fueron in comparable shallow coastal waters in the identificados sobre un transecto de video como southeastern Pacific. Two individuals were filmed with macrouridos por su cola alargada y aguzada, y a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) at 150 m of depth la primera aleta dorsal con dos rayos espinosos. at the pacific entrance of the October Channel in the Los peces mostraron una serie de bandas oscuras Campana Archipelago in central Patagonia, Chile. regulares en forma de silla de montar en la parte The specimens were identified on a video transect superior y en los lados del cuerpo, desde antes de as macrourids by their elongate tapering tail, and the la primera aleta dorsal hasta la punta de la cola. dorsal fins with two spinous rays. The fishes showed Estos criterios se ajustan bien con la descripción a series of regular dark saddle-like bands on the top de Coelorinchus cookianus que es descrito and sides of the body from before the first dorsal fin como endémico de las aguas de Nueva Zelanda. to tip of tail. These criteria fit best with description Sin embargo, dos de las cuatro especies de of Coelorinchus cookianus which is described as Coelorinchus registradas en el Pacifico Suroriental endemic in New Zealand waters. However, two tienen una amplia distribución en el hemisferio of four Coelorinchus species registered in the sur. La falta de esfuerzo de muestreo en las costas southeastern Pacific have widespread distributions de la Patagonia central, incluyendo la plataforma in the southern hemisphere. Lack of sampling effort continental y el talud superior podrían explicar in the central Patagonian coast, including shelf and porque hasta ahora C. cookianus ha sido reportado upper slope may explain why until now C. cookianus exclusivamente en aguas de Nueva Zelanda. was exclusively reported in New Zealand waters. Palabras clave: Key Words: Canales y fiordos Chilenos, Océano Pacifico Chilean channels and fjords, southeastern Pacific Suroriental, Plataforma continental, Reserva Ocean, continental shelf, Katalalixar National Nacional Katalalixar. Reserve. 1 Oceana Chile Resumen [email protected] Este trabajo es el primer reporte de Coelorinchus 2 cf. cookianus en aguas costeras someras en el Doctorado en Biología y Ecología Aplicada (BEA), Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile. Océano Pacifico Suroriental. Dos individuos fueron filmados con un vehículo operado remotamente 3 Nucleo Milenio de Ecología y Manejo Sustentable de Islas (ROV) a 150 m de profundidad en la entrada Oceánicas (ESMOI). Received: Aug. 21, 2018 Accepted: Aug. 30, 2018 30 M. GORNY & G. ZAPATA-HERNÁNDEZ INTRODUCTION is situated in central Patagonia, between the Penas Gulf and Castillo Channel (~48°S - 48°47′S, Fig.1a) The family Macrouridae comprise 405 in the western part of the KNR. The Campana species and 36 genera of fishes and the genus Island is the largest island in this archipelago and is Coelorinchus with 122 species is the most separated from the others smaller islands (Patricio specious genus of this family (Iwamoto, 1978; Lynch and Cabrales Islands) by the October Priede, 2017; Eschmayer et al. 2018) and Channel (Fig. 1b). The seafloor of the western side 82 species are endemic of the Pacific Ocean of the archipelago is very shallow and covered by (Priede, 2017). Macrourids are distributed pinnacle-like steep raising rocks, emerging to the mainly in deep water from the Arctic to Antarctic surface and preventing ships and boats to enter the between 200 m and 2000 m depth (Cohen et October Channel from the Pacific Ocean. Access al. 1990) and commonly inhabit continental to the islands from the Castillo Channel is possible, shelfs, slopes, seamounts and mid-ocean ridges but a very shallow narrow channel with a maximum systems (Priede, 2017). The macrourids are depth of 2.5 m must be passed to get into the characterized by a tail which tapers to a sharp October Channel. The Campana Archipelago point, giving them the common names of rattails form part of a complex geography of channels or whip tails. Most of them have a light organ and fjords of the Chilean Patagonia and is located underneath the skin along the midline of the less than 100 km east of the Southern Patagonian abdomen with opening just before the anus. Icefield (SPI), which is still the largest ice mass on Typical prey of these benthopelagic fishes are small the southern hemisphere outside Antarctica. The crustaceans, polychaetes and myctophids (Cohen dynamic regime of the SPI has shaped the adjacent et al. 1990). So far, six Coelorinchus species have west coast of central Patagonia by an important been reported from the southeast Pacific (Iwamoto, glaciomarine deposit set (Cassasa et al. 2002), 1979), and three species from Chile including resulting in comparable shallow channels filled Coelorinchus aconcagua, C. chilensis and C. with fine-grained sediments such as mud and clay fasciatus (Iwamoto, 1978; Reyes & Hüne, 2010). towards the Pacific Ocean as observed during two In Chile all species have a wide range of distribution expeditions in 1995 and 1996, which conducted (Acuña et al. 2008; Reyes & Hüne, 2012), with sampling of benthos along the Messier Channel C. aconcagua distributed from the south of Arica (Mutschke & Gorny, 1999). Between 2009 and to the Strait of Magellan (21°34’S - 49°50’S), 2017 the NGO Oceana executed five expeditions C. chilensis from Arica to Cape Horn (18°40’S to the KNR, being the Fallos Channel the eastern - 55°58’S) and C. fasciatus between Valparaiso most part of the reserve which has been studied, and the Strait of Magellan (33°03’S - 53°53’S). taking biological samples of the benthos and doing However, C. chilensis is also reported from Peru underwater video footages by means of a remotely and C. fasciatus from New Zealand and Africa operated vehicle (ROV) (Gorny, Pers. Obs.). Visual (Iwamoto, 1978). Species of genus Coelorinchus documentation by means of ROV is an excellent appear as bycatch of commercial fisheries off coast alternative to investigate benthic communities in the north and south of Chile (Acuña et al. 2008; at locations characterized by extremely irregular Reyes & Hüne, 2012). Also, some specimens were bottom structures as raising rocks that inhibit caught over 130 years ago in the Messier channel, traditional bottom sampling with trawls or dredges close to Wellington Island by the US trawler and being inaccessible to non-technical divers Albatross and next to the entrance of the Strait of (Gorny et al. 2018). Although images often do Magellan during the Challenger expedition in 1875 not allow exact taxonomic descriptions, within the (Iwamoto, 1978). past years the use of underwater video revealed The Campana Archipelago at the western numerous first records, including registers of new side of the Katalalixar National Reserve (KNR) species of fishes and invertebrates from seamounts, represent one of the few places of the Chilean oceanic islands and the continental coast of Chile channels and fjords region that has not been (Friedlander et al. 2013; Easton et al. 2017; explored by scientific expeditions. The archipelago Gorny et al. 2018). FIRST RECORD OF COELORINCHUS CF. COOKIANUS IN CAMPANA ARCHIPELAGO 31 Fig.1. Map of the location where Coelorinchus cf. cookianus was filmed, indicating the location of the KNR in central Patagonia, next to the Southern Patagonian Icefield (a), the Campana archipelago with locations of all transects of underwater video with ROV during the expedition (b) and the enlarged view of the entrance of the October channel (c). The triangle indicates where the individuals of C. cf. cookianus were filmed, circles indicate all other transects without records of macrourid fishes and the dashed line shows the estimated location of the barrier at the entrance of the channel as measured with the eco sounder of the vessel. 32 M. GORNY & G. ZAPATA-HERNÁNDEZ The general objective of the expedition to located next to the Pacific entrance of October the interior waters of the Campana Archipelago, Channel and about 200 m after a barrier of 40 was to investigate the composition of benthic m of depth at the channels mouth. The two communities in the easternmost part of the individuals were filmed within a distance of about KNR and to prove the hypothesis that species 10 m between them and on the same transect we composition in the waters around the islands and also documented a comparable high abundance of next to the ocean differ in comparison to channels myctophids, euphausids and squat lobsters Munida located much closer to the continent. subrugosa. Both individuals of Coelorinchus were seen only from lateral and oblique view (Fig. 2a, MATERIAL AND METHODS b), and one specimen was ~10 cm of length (Fig. 2c), whereas the other one was much smaller. Both